7 comments:

This is a very difficult question. Frankly, I don't see how you could get a definitive proof that progressive injections of mercury cause autism short of actual test poisioning of human volunteers, which won't happen.

What is the benefit of the 50+ vaccinations that kids get today, over what we got when I was small? Is it worth the risk?

All too often, lay people blindly follow the advice of doctors, which - well meaning as they are - may not turn out to be in their best interest.

Several of my best friends are doctors, and one thing I've learned is this: 99% of the time, we "get better" all by ourselves. Positive attitude helps as much as many drugs, for many conditions.

That's not to say all drugs are worthless - some are lifesavers. But we Americans are much too quick to medicate ourselves and our kids with substances whose long term effect on us is not known, all in the name of a "quick cure."

Perhaps this vaccination is something that we should do in moderation until we know more.

But the trouble is, the moms that have the suspicions already have damaged kids. So right or wrong, for them, it's too late.

And I don't think 99% of the newly pregnant have an inking of this issue.

I know I had no knowledge of it until meeting people like you after I wrote my book.

The article was great. Even if the lawsuit fails it raises awareness and gives notice. Noise makes change, including noise made by HuffPo contributors.

My wife works for a major foreign pharmaceutical company, and I've gained some insight into how utterly DAUNTING the road is such companies must travel to get a drug approved. The years of research, trials, and politics, followed by the inevitable lawsuits. . . No wonder pharmaceutical companies won't launch a new drug unless they think they can make a big profit.

The blind way we follow the advice of doctors - who often are complete strangers who know little or nothing about us - is kind of embarrassing for such an educated culture. Thanks for pointing this out and offering an entertaining wake-up call to what the costs can be.

Exactly Kim! We as parents have a limited amount of research resource and therefore have to be dependant on what we hope are reliable sources. We can only take a best guess and trust what we've been told is true. That and a gut feel is all we've got so don't blame yourself, don't feel stupid and KNOW you did the absoute best for your kid. Here in the UK the powers that be think it's a marvellous idea to shove about a dozen different vaccines into a baby at the same time - doesn't take a genius to realise that's not such a good move but you wouldn't bulk at doing them more spread out and who's to say it's not going to harm a child in any case. It is my beleif that vaccines are not all bad, but a subset of children have a reaction to them, kind of like penicillin's great unless you're allergic to it, and until we can identify those children before administering vaccines we'll all be the poorer for it. Parents need to question the use of vaccines and to know what questions to ask.